The genetic genius of Lesa Lewis

The genetic genius of Lesa Lewis

Given my long history in bodybuilding, it takes a lot to impress or surprise me. But that one time it happened with Lesa Lewis.

I remember driving to a shoot in the desert with Lesa Lewis in the passenger seat. I looked over and was struck by the size and shape of her arm. I'm used to bodybuilding muscles, but this seemed like something special. It reminded me how impressed I was with Ronnie Coleman's arm, also huge, full and shapely. It seemed to me that this was how bodybuilding responded to Sergio Oliva back then. When Sergio emerged in the early 1960s, he displayed incredible, never-before-seen genetics that boggled the mind!

I first met Sergio in the 70s. He stood outside Gold's Gym in Santa Monica wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a slit in the sleeve so he could put his arm through. His biceps were so huge and full that I thought it looked like he had a leg sticking out of his shirt sleeve rather than an arm!

Although Lesa Lewis wasn't nearly as tall as Sergio or Ronnie Coleman, given her height and incredible figure, she could have been considered a female version of those champions. Lesa was a genetic genius, just like Sergio, and when it comes to bodybuilding (and to some extent sports in general), genetics determine the level and limits of performance.

There is a significant difference between muscles and competitive bodybuilding type muscles. Bodybuilding muscles need to be full and shapely, with lots of volume. This is something that is genetic. You can exercise to make your muscles bigger, but you can't change their shape.

Think of children's balloons. There are long sausage balloons and round ones. You can inflate each type of balloon as big as you want, but one will never change shape to be like the other. The same goes for muscles.

Lesa Lewis was born in Kansas City. She grew up in a family with three brothers and three sisters. She ran track, played basketball, danced and swam in high school. She attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for one year and competed in track and field as a sprinter, running the 100, 200 and 400 meters and the 400 meter relay. She left college to work as a freelance fashion designer of clothing, hats and shoes.

In 1992, Lesa began strength training at Bally Total Fitness Gym. This year, she trained to become fit and toned. A bodybuilder commented that she had muscular legs and told her she should try bodybuilding. After that, she decided to act on his suggestion and started bodybuilding training.

At the 1997 USA Championships, Lewis placed first in the heavyweight category and overall and won her IFBB professional card. At Arnold's Ms. International 1998, Lewis finished an impressive second place. The following year, Lesa won the 1998 IFBB Jan Tana competition and qualified for the upcoming Ms. Olympia competition.

You may be wondering why, with all that genetic potential, Lesa didn't do better than her in competition. The answer is simply “conditioning.” Lesa got in good shape, but not good enough for an era when women learned to be truly toned, with impressive definition and musculature. Lesa Lewis missed the mark and failed to achieve the level of muscle strength required to be a serious challenger for the Ms. Olympia title. There have been many women and men in competitive bodybuilding who have been in the same situation. You see her in the gym and think you're looking at the next Ms. or Mr. Olympia. But on stage they simply lack the fitness of their competitors.

This sometimes happens again due to genetics. Not everyone responds to dieting in the same way and for many, a hard diet ends up costing too much muscle mass or fat loss is uneven, resulting in love handles being left behind.

For example. Women tend to lose fat around the waist early, while fat in the hips and butt takes a long time to lose. But I knew a female bodybuilder who lost fat below the waist early on, but had to diet so hard and for so long to sculpt her waist that all her muscle mass and shape were exhausted.

However. In many cases, competitors are not in their best shape on stage because the competitive bodybuilding diet is simply so difficult and has been described as a form of madness to achieve success. Very low calories and cardio to achieve calorie deficiency, extreme care with diet, disciplined for about sixteen weeks - while continuing hard training in the gym throughout.

So, in addition to having the right muscle genetics to become a champion bodybuilder, you also need the right psychological mentality to train at a consistent intensity for years and withstand the psychological demands of an intense bodybuilding diet.

All of this helps emphasize how difficult it is to become a bodybuilding champion and why so many try but so few succeed. The same applies, of course, to practically any sporting or demanding activity.